Tuesday, August 28, 2012

(JAM Desho is our feature where Steve tells you all about the best in contemporary underground music culture from Japan and beyond. Today, we cover the most recent of Virgin Babylon Records' releases, which wraps up our feature on the label.)

Just as this feature started with World's End Girlfriend, so too it ends with him. Virgin Babylon Records is, after all, his own label, but I hope the records by about tess, Joseph Nothing Orchestra, Kashiwa Daisuke, and Go-qualia have proven that this label is not about vanity. In fact, just this past week, VBR announced their next album will be Xinlisupreme's 4 Bombs, his first release in a decade. Maeda and his label continue to provide fresh and alien music for consumption, and I hope they keep our appetites sated for years to come.

It's easy to write about the Starry Starry Night Soundtrack, because I already reviewed it earlier this year. Go read that. My opinions of it remain positive, and now everybody has the opportunity to hear the music for themselves. Even non-WEG-fans should find something to enjoy in Maeda's take on the baroque indie pop sound with "Smile" and "Storytelling." And, again, if you can afford it, buy the album directly from Virgin Babylon. It comes with a bonus CD of extra incidental tracks from the film, instrumental versions of "Storytelling" and "Smile," and an alternate version of World's End Girlfriend's own piece "Yesterday's Light Circus."

Starry Starry Night is available for streaming on Virgin Babylon Records' Bandcamp up through September 8. Also, be sure to check out the other VBR posts on this blog for more streams of more albums.